1 Simple Thing Podcast | Build A Better Business By Building A Better You!

Everything we want to accomplish in life begins with discovering our own “why.” It’s our burning reason and purpose for what we do. All the great leaders in history began with knowing why, and it’s the answer to that question that will lead us to greatness as well. On this episode, Dave Kirby his conversation with Simon Sinek shared from his book, “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.”

Bestselling author Simon Sinek says we do not have to know all the answers, and we do not have to pretend we do. And when we are willing to admit we don’t know and ask for help, it’s amazing how many people will want to help us. When we give someone the opportunity to contribute to our lives, that also gives their lives purpose.

Simon Sinek talks about how most of us know what we do, but we don’t have a purpose, belief, or cause that’s driving that decision. When you have a sense of purpose - when you know why - everything begins to make sense. It’s amazing the clarity we get when we have a sense of why we do what we do.

Bestselling author Simon Sinek talks about the power of asking questions. We stop asking as many questions as we should and sometimes we just take things for granted. The great leaders are often like little kids in how they ask questions and consume information. They don’t always agree with everything, but they listen intently to see if there’s anything they can learn. They do less of the talking and more of the asking.

Bestselling author Simon Sinek talks about discovering your own unique why. It’s your sense of purpose, sense of cause, or sense of belief. All the great leaders in the world - whether it’s Steve Jobs or Martin Luther King - had a crystal clear sense of purpose, cause, or belief. They understood their why, and that’s what drew us to them… and inspired us to follow them.

Most of us have only experienced the negative type of networking. Standing around at a party handing out business cards to people you don’t know, hoping to find a needle client in the haystack. On this episode, Dave highlights some of the un-networking strategies Derek Coburn shared in episodes 311-314 from his book, “Networking Is Not Working: Stop Collecting Business Cards and Start Making Meaningful Connections.”

Derek Coburn shows us how to merge client appreciation with networking and, if done the right way, how it can be very beneficial to you and your business. By making existing clients happy, you increase the likelihood of them staying your clients. And through them you gain opportunities to meet more people than you would have met otherwise.

Author Derek Coburn talks about how to build a valuable network without attending networking events. Derek’s method is to host an event comprised of a community of people who have a pay it forward mindset and genuinely want to add value for one another. After you have added tons of value for these individuals, after you have made really valuable connections, and after you have been the one who brought people together in a meaningful way, they are going to WANT to help you any way they can.

Author Derek Coburn helps us upgrade our networking efforts to what he calls “Networking 3.0.” Instead of handing out business cards and looking to benefit yourself, Derek teaches a change of mindset constantly places the focus on your existing clients, and people in your network. In Networking 3.0 you are always mindful of and spotting those win-win connections that would benefit them, not you when you are meeting new people at events.

Author Derek Coburn talks about how we often look at networking as a means to get new customers. But he says our biggest opportunity is to grow our network to better serve our existing clients. The key is to be mindful in helping your clients expand their horizons to help them grow their business.

Modern life has given us so many distractions and interruptions that we have a lost our ability to focus and concentrate. The abundance of devices and notifications has robbed us of our attention span. On this episode, Dave Kirby recaps episodes 306-309 with thoughts on his conversations with guest Maura Thomas about her book, “Personal Productivity Secrets: Do what you never thought possible with your time and attention... and regain control of your life.”

Maura Thomas teaches that we need more than just a set of tools to be productive. We also need a workflow management process to understand how to use these tools and how are they going to serve us, rather than adapting to some tool somebody told us was useful.

Author Maura Thomas gives some great advice on controlling the mental chatter in our heads that creates stress and distraction. Most people are not very good at keeping track of all of the details. We write stuff down, but we write it down in various places: a notebook, sticky notes, flagged in email, or on the dry erase board in the office. We end up having all these bits of information swirling around in our heads and scattered in a million different places all at the same time. It’s a system that feels productive, but it isn’t because when it’s time to retrieve or access the specific information we’re in a frenzy trying to figure out where to look.

Author Maura Thomas talks about how, as a society, technology is there for our convenience, yet we let it interrupt us all the time and don’t control it. We need to control our technologies, so we’re not constantly interrupted, making it impossible to focus.

Author Maura Thomas explains that focus is like a muscle; the more you work it, the stronger it becomes. The problem is our typical daily behavior weakens our focus muscle because we’re constantly distracted. And the more constantly distracted we are, the shorter our attention span and ability to focus becomes.

If you’ve tried and failed to create lasting change in your life, it might be because you have relied primarily on willpower. And willpower will consistently let us down. Instead, Kerry Patterson has made a career of studying the science required to make lasting change. Today Dave Kirby recaps his conversations with Kerry on Episodes 301-304 and shares some thoughts about what he’s learned.

Kerry Patterson shares practical applications on how skillful “changers” have created vital behaviors to dramatically improve results with colleagues, loved ones and in themselves. Learn how real people have integrated all of the strategies and tactics of the new science of personal success into an effective change plan, helping them find career success, weight loss, financial fitness, addiction recovery, or relationship renewal.

Kerry Patterson teaches us to be mindful of our friends and the impact they have to either motivate and enable us to do the right thing, or motivate and enable us to do the wrong thing. Likewise, the physical world is acting upon you in ways you don’t even realize. And because we don’t intuitively look to the physical world we miss a great opportunity to create and maintain change.

To create lasting change, we must have the motivation to change and also the ability to change. Kerry Patterson warns of what he calls "the willpower trap." It's the trap of thinking willpower alone is enough to create lasting change. At some level, you might succeed in the short term, but over the long run you won’t be able to keep it up. Instead, what we need is a desire to change, combined with a cohesive strategy to apply the proper skills required for long-term success.

Willpower is not the answer to creating change in your life. Kerry Patterson says when you have lasting problems and you’ve tried and tried, willpower is not enough. That’s where skill comes into play.  When you learn how to bring certain skills into play, depending on what challenges you are facing, you are 10x more likely to create lasting change.